It’s been noted that fines levied against airlines by the FAA have risen sharply over the past 2 years and they show no signs of leveling off either.  USA Today in the Sky reports that Airtran was fined $20,000 for advertising $39 fares instead of the $44 they actually were.  Delta was fined for improperly displaying taxes and fees on some fares.  Other airlines are now getting fined for blatantly violating their own policies on lost luggage or for treating handicapped people inappropriately. 

Many see these fines as draconian and I see them as an example of what largely has been wrong w/ the Federal Aviation Administration for decades.  They are just way too close to the industry that they are supposed to regulate and govern.  That doesn’t mean that I advocate an adversarial position on the part of the FAA  towards airlines.  And it doesn’t mean that the FAA needs to make hay with the public by portraying itself as “tough” either. 

It means that the FAA lost its objectivity long ago and while I do applaud the reversal of that direction in many cases, I”m unhappy to suddenly seeing the FAA treat airlines like they are rats now.  The truth is, we, the people, created the monster (FAA) and we, the people, allowed the airline industry to grossly influence that agency for far too long.  Of course the airlines used all the influence they could to move the agency that governs their operations in the direction they preferred.  It’s an exercise in self preservation and no one should be surprised by it.

What we do need is a reorganization of that federal agency so that it can become less political and less influence by airlines.  While airlines *should* have some input on regulations that will govern them, they should not get to write the rules and hand them over to the FAA.  The FAA shouldn’t be bobbing and weaving to the political tunes written by Congress and/or the Executive either. 

It really should be operating much more independently like the Federal Reserve.  It needs to be a bit more above the fray and a independent enough to hold airlines to a tough standard when it comes to safety and fair play.  In fact, the FAA has been so unduly influenced and, at many times, unaccountable for its decisions and actions, we’ve exacerbate the problem by demanding more accountability via Congress and the Secretary of the Department of Transportation.  The FAA now simply reacts.

But the FAA needs to plan.  It needs to plan for the long term and it needs to be able to meet demands for qualified staff and it needs to govern airlines independently, fairly and appropriate to the times.  By operating independently, I also mean that its budget needs to come out from under Congressional whimsy (at least its administrative budget) and it needs to become stable and self-supporting for the long term. 

It needs to focus on providing better systems and great excellence when it comes to air traffic control.  We, as a country, are woefully behind the curve when it comes to these systems and we’re following, not leading.  This isn’t a corrupt government agency but it’s one that is pulled in too many directions all too often and it is far too frequently subject to conflicting influences and opinions.  It is an agency that needs to be a bit more above the fray and able to do the right thing.

Filed under: Air Traffic Control, Aircraft Development, Airline Service, Airports by ajax
No Comments »

An airline and some ads you just don’t see very often over here in the United States:

Virgin Atlantic

Filed under: Trivia by ajax
No Comments »

After the merger announcement between Southwest Airlines and Airtran last week, there was quite a bit of speculation on who would be relieved by the announcement and who would be on edge over it.  Conventional wisdom (which includes me) saw this move as relieving Southwest of some burdensome competition in some markets such as in the NorthEast and in Milwaukee.  Airtran competed effectively to drive down pricing with their flights. 

Some have said Delta has nothing to worry about and Frontier has been foolish enough to see this as an improvement for them.  I think Delta needs to worry a lot and Frontier is made weaker from this merger.

In Atlanta, Delta won’t see much change in Atlanta, I agree.  It’s possible that in the regional area near Atlanta, Delta may even do better in the short run.  However, Southwest has something Airtran didn’t:  frequency.  I think that Delta will discover that when Southwest’s capacity for frequency is deployed on traditional Delta / Airtran routes, competition is going to get a bit stiffer.  The truth is, Airtran had many destinations but not always that much frequency.  It’s one reason they were tolerated by many legacy airlines.

However, legacy airlines have generally always defended routes from other carries including LCC carriers by the ability to add frequency.  That’s never worked well against Southwest .  Southwest doesn’t go into a market with the idea of being a small player.  They enter routes where they can deploy reasonable frequency right off the bat and they know how to schedule flights just as well or better than most legacies.  Southwest’s size is already formidable weapon and it got a lot more formidable when the Airtran merger got announced.

Frontier and other LCC carriers (Hi jetBlue!) shouldn’t feel relief either.  It’s that same frequency with an additional weapon that can spell hard days ahead for them, too.  Southwest can compete with anybody’s frequency and I can think of just one LCC in just one area that has the frequency and capability to match what Southwest can ultimately deploy.  jetBlue has that in the New York City area.  But that’s it and Southwest is clearly building momemtum to be a bigger player in the NYC area. 

That additional weapon?  Network.  Yes, Southwest isn’t a traditional hub and spoke carrier but they do know how to make their network work for the consumer.   People aren’t adverse to connections if the price is right and the risk is relatively low.  Southwest has lots of focus cities / hubs to provide network access to destinations that the other LCC carriers just don’t have. 

Frontier has Denver and Milwaukee and is spread thinly in many cases.  While they compete against Southwest in Denver, that’s changing slowly.  They’ll never compete against Southwest in Milwaukee because Southwest is already capable of offering a network of destinations that Frontier can’t begin to approach. 

Southwest has also done something that other LCC carriers have foolishly ignored.  They covered the midwest.  It isn’t sexy territory but it’s territory with lots of industry and commerce and need to get from point a to point b.  It’s an area that appreciates a frugal approach to life and it’s an area with lots of family connections between cities.  It’s also an area that has a strong attraction to the leisure areas that Southwest is strong in such as Florida and Arizona and California. 

And now Southwest will have international capability to those same kinds of attractive leisure destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico.  Frankly, I think Frontier should be very scared of what Southwest can bring to the table because it potentially spells their demise.  I think jetBlue needs to start thinking about how they can grow their network and quite adding flights to the Florida and the Caribbean from the NorthEast. 

jetBlue is also weak in another respect.  They’re building focus operations in cities that are notoriously difficult to operate from in weather.  Their operations can be significantly impacted in New York City, Boston and Baltimore-Washington by the very same storm system.  All three of those are focus cities for them.  Southwest doesn’t have those same weaknesses.  They fly in the same areas and they’ll no doubt grow in those same areas but they continue to manage their risk by operating flights from those areas to other focus cities that are far less likely to be impacted by the same storm system. 

And Atlanta will just add to that capability.  I’m not saying Southwest’s system is perfectly isolated from risk but it is far more insulated from risk than other carriers like jetBlue and even the SuperLegacies. 

Southwest is scarier because it has lots of resources and can operate in a very agile manner.  The LCC’s can’t and the SuperLegacies can only do so much within the limitations of their hub style operations.

Filed under: Airline Service by ajax
No Comments »

This marks my 500th post to this blog, FlyingColors and it is quite the milestone for me.  I thought I would take this chance to reflect a bit on the blog and what I’ve been writing about.

I started the blog in July of 2008 or a little over 2 years ago.  I went from zero visitors (except family and friends) to about 800 monthly individual visitors in October of 2009.  Frankly, I was pretty impressed that that many visitors came to the blog then. 

In October of 2009, I decided to up the stakes and made it a goal to write something for every day of the week.  I wasn’t sure I could or would even want to but it was an interesting goal for me and I went about doing it.  I started with doing a post for every weekday and finally moved into doing at least one every day. 

In January, I had 1600 individual visitors and for the month of September, I had over 3600 individual visitors.  Repeat visits put the numbers in the tens of thousands but I’m more interested in the individual visits because it represents the true growth in my view.

One odd thing on this blog, to me anyway, is that it never seems to stir many comments.  There are  a couple of semi regulars who make comments here but I’ve wondered at times if I fail to stir controversy.  Other times, I wonder if someone is playing a joke on me and found a way to bump my visitor counts on my web analytics software. 

The average visitor to this blog that isn’t referred from a search engine stays on the site for over 5 minutes / visit.  Those referred by a search engine remain on the site for an average just a touch over 2 minutes / visit.

Frankly, I wondered if I could keep writing about the airline industry for even a few months.  More than two years later, I’ve learned that just when I’m running out of ideas, airlines will cooperate and do something stirring.  This is where I tip my hat to Southwest for surprising the hell out of me last week.

In two years, a lot has changed in the airline industry.  We got two SuperLegacy airlines and now we’re seeing the first truly large merger of two LCC carriers.  I think we’ll see one or two more sizeable mergers in the next two years if conditions continue as they are. 

I’ve really struck out at American Airlines in the last year and I think it is because while virtually every other airline in the US has become a pretty dynamic enterprise, American continues to work furiously at maintaining the status quo.  For such a large and legendary airline, it’s a disappointing era to watch. 

I really thought that we would see the 787 in service by now.  I believed it would take longer than the original predictions of going into service but I also believed it would be well into service with a number of airlines by now.  It’s disappointing that it appears it will not hit that milestone until next year.   It is remarkable that this airliner was first announced as the 7E7 in January of 2003. 

It’s also remarkable just how much discipline airlines have shown in the last 2 years.  I am a bit in awe of the restraint shown when it comes to capacity growth.  That said, I don’t believe for one bit that it is the new order for the US airline industry.  Someone is going to blink some time soon.

This year has found some interesting developments for the blog.  Imagine my surprise when I noticed a huge jump in visitors from France and discovered it was being quoted and debated heavily on a French aviation forum.   Just as I finished chuckling over that, there was a sudden jump in visitors from Norway.  In the last week, FlyingColors has suddenly found an audience in Indonesia of all places. 

In the past 12 months, there has been an interesting development in Google referrals.  The top 10 international Google search referrals come from (in order):  France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Canada, Russia, Poland, Italy, Spain and (oddly enough) the Phillipines.   The next largest group of referrals come from US military bases with the Air Force bases leading the pack. 

Another source of traffic is other bloggers.  I really enjoy the others out there blogging about aviation.  I like the Cranky Flier because he doesn’t pull punches.  I thoroughly enjoy the pilots on FL250 and Flight Level 390 and if you don’t read Aviatrix at Cockpit Conversations, you should if only because she’s a thoroughly intelligent and entertaining read.  You’ll find no better honest brokers of airline news than on the Dallas Morning News Airline Biz Blog.   No one is more enthusiastic and geeky about airlines, aircraft and in-flight entertainment than Flightblogger and Runway Girl.  I thoroughly enjoy Randy’s Journal over at Boeing’s website (both Randy’s) and I’ve really enjoyed posts by Randy version 2.0 in the last year about what is happening at Boeing.

What I hope for in the next year is more comments from readers.  I’ve enjoyed the few debates I’ve had and more than once someone has managed to make me revisit an opinion later on.  The only comments I’ve ever rejected are spam and I’ve never edited a comment and don’t plan to for any reason.

So, if you’re visiting today, thanks for showing up.  I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have and I’m off to write the 501st post and I’ve got to find a worthy subject first.

Filed under: Trivia by ajax
No Comments »

Last week, Delta’s CEO Richard Anderson and Alaska Airlines’ CEO Bill Ayer were in Portland, Oregon and offered some insight on just where the close relationship between Alaska and Delta might be going.

Delta now operates non-stop flights from Portland to Amsterdam and Tokyo that were originally subsidized by Portland’s airport but which are now declared “permanent” by Delta.  They see Paris as a potential next stop.

Apparently those flights to Amsterdam and Tokyo are running pretty full now and it appears that Alaska Airlines is the one to thank for feeding traffic to those flights.  Portland is often discounted as a small city but it’s a small city with some major industry that wants both trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific flights.  Since Alaska Airlines is the only airline in the Pacific Northwest that has a network to feed such flights, their partnership with Delta is becoming closer and closer.

I think Delta wouldn’t mind purchasing Alaska Airlines but I also think the timing isn’t right for such a purchase.  It just feels like one step over the line in terms of how regulators might envision such a merger. 

In the next few years, look for all three of the SuperLegacy airlines to start eyeing Alaska Airlines.  Delta has the best partnership with them but Alaska is no stranger to Continental (United) and American Airlines either.  They’ll do a deal with whoever makes sense. 

That’s also why I think Southwest ought to give Alaska Airlines a long, hard look as well. 

In the meantime, let’s cross our fingers on behalf of Portland and hope they get that Paris flight.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax
No Comments »

American Airlines has applied to fly non-stop between Los Angeles and Shanghai using their vaunted 777-200ER aircraft.  If permission is granted, it will be the only non-stop flight between the two cities.

I sound like a PR release.  Frankly, I hope AA gets the route and I do hope they actually arrange acceptable slots into Shanghai this time.  You may remember that AA ended up delaying the start of their Chicago-Beijing route because the slots they were given weren’t automatically changed to make them happy when they got closer to their first departure. 

I suspect AA is going to be applying for a lot of west coast to Asia routes in the near future.  The yield is good and so are the loads.  People to tend to fly their national airlines on such routes unlike those from the US to Europe.  It’s notable that this route would originate in one of their declared “core” cities, Los Angeles. 

Lately all the competition talk has been over New York City.  I think LA may end up 2011’s New York City when it comes to competition.  It’s one of the best cities to connect domestic flights to trans-Pacific flights and he who grabs the routes now is likely to keep them in the future.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax
No Comments »

I like Southwest and feel that they have, more than any other airline, executed an extremely consistent business plan for nearly 40 years.  I think they’re a better value today than they were 20 years ago and I recommend them frequently when people ask me for a suggestion on what to fly. 

That said, I think Southwest has a few weaknesses that have really begun to stand out in the last few years.  One of those is democracy.  There was a time when a passenger on Southwest Airlines knew one thing for sure:  everyone got on that aircraft on pretty equal terms.  Lately, in the drive to attract a more business oriented passenger, things have begun to seem, well, different.

Now some passengers appear to be more equal than others. 

That comes from some of the fees that Southwest has instituted.  Mind you, I like their approach to fees in general because you are getting more for paying more on Southwest vs other airlines charging you for what was once included.   But this rather soft approach to offering something attractive to the business traveler is starting to look a bit silly. 

I genuinely believe that Southwest should look at adopting a business class on their aircraft.  I think they could pioneer a different business class that offers value, comfort and workspace for a great price and I think buying Airtran gives them the chance to take a look at the viability of that.  It would be poor form to dismiss it out of hand at this point.

They’ve already said they’re going to replace/upgrade their IT systems and I think that’s fantastic.  However, I would suggest that instead of an internally focused effort over many years, it’s time to do a cost benefit analysis on adopting an industry standard.  There is a reason for Southwest’s present system and that has to do with the rather unjust way it was handled in other reservations systems nearly 2 decades ago. 

Thing is, that world doesn’t really exist anymore.  I admired their approach to internet sales and going it alone.  I liked that they saved money on travel agency fees back in those days.  But those days are over and I wouldn’t mind seeing Southwest listed alongside other airlines when I shop. 

I think Southwest is now missing traffic because they aren’t listed alongside other airlines on travel websites.  I think they’re too easy to forget in many instances and a bit of a pain to compare fares with at other times.  Adopting new IT systems is a perfect time to do a cost benefit analysis of joining the rest of the world again when it comes to booking a flight. It might be the right decision.

Southwest likes experiments and buying Airtran and deciding to keep the Boeing 717 fleet is an experiment.  Southwest will see how pilots get along with the concept of two fleet types and how managing crews across these types works out for them.  It also allows them to see what happens when they right-size an aircraft to a market.  That’s all good but I think they could stand to go one step farther.

Which leads to the idea that Southwest doesn’t have hubs.  Well, actually, they do.  If you want to call them focus cities, fine by me but they’re hubs.  People fly aircraft into these “hubs” and connect with other flights to other destinations.  The difference is that flights into and out of these hubs are more rationally scheduled and don’t involve “banks” of connecting flights.

But they still have “regional” flights bringing traffic to these “hubs” where passengers can connect to a flight to a destination farther away.   It’s time to look at the possibilities of flying these “regional” flights with different equipment.  It is no secret that I like the turbo-props for these flights because a turbo-prop can generally fly a segment just as fast as a jet when its distances are under 400 miles. 

Southwest has a lot of sub-400 mile routes and I think they’re going to have more in the future, not less.  A fuel efficient turbo-prop would permit Southwest to offer even lower fares and with Southwest’s famous ability to operate and maintain aircraft, I think they could make it work at a level not seen in the US so far.

But if turbo-props are just too revolutionary, they should also take a look at the latest generation of so called regional jets.  I like the Embraer E170/190 class for Southwest.  It fits all their original criteria for a jet and can fly those sub-400 mile routes very quickly and efficiently.  It’s a better choice for a two type fleet than the 717 is.  And it has the range to fly some long and thin (for Southwest) routes that would fit well within their point to point style of flying.

It’s a great time for Southwest to learn from this merger.   I respect their decision to be Southwest but that decision doesn’t mean things don’t change.  Just looking at Southwest’s history for the past 20 years will reveal plenty of change and it feels like one of those moments when SWA can adopt some change while integrating another airline.  They would be wise to examine what Airtran was doing right before discarding it out of hand.

Filed under: Airline Service by ajax
1 Comment »

 USA Today had a story on how Delta is about to see several union votes in the coming months. Historically, Delta has been the one non-union legacy airline in the United States with just the pilots unionized.  Accordingly, Delta’s labor groups have enjoyed great flexibility and have avoided some of the rather harsh and (in my opinion) unfair treatment that many other groups at other airlines experience. 

Flight attendants at Delta don’t spend a decade unable to hold a line, for instance.  All employees have shared in the wealth of the airline in good times through both raises and stock plans.   As legacy airlines go, Delta is a pretty great place to work all in all.  No company is without its warts and no company avoids the odd period of poor management and Delta has both. 

Changes in labor union law for airlines have now made it a bit more advantageous to try to unionize groups one more time.  In the past, failure to vote (for any reason) was interpreted as a “no” vote.  Now, simple majority of those who did vote are all that is required to win a vote.  In the past, Delta flight attendants have rejected attempts to unionize both by explicitely voting no as well as just not voting.  Labor leaders think that this time, they can win.

And perhaps they can.  Delta now has Northwest Airlines’ 7000+ flight attendants under the same roof now and that is a very militant group.  It’s possible that combined with the rather stark minority of Delta flight attendants they could win this if anti-union flight attendants don’t explicitely vote “no” to this latest attempt.  Frankly, I don’t think this is as sure a thing as labor leaders seem to think.  Flight attendants may be many things but one thing they aren’t is stupid.  I think that instead of just not voting to say “no”, they’ll simply vote “no”.  They appear to remain in the majority right now and there is one thing that perhaps is being overlooked.

A lot of those Northwest FAs have now experienced the Delta Way.  They may be battle hardened and militant but I wonder how some may feel after spending some time in the Delta system and discovering a kinder, gentler company that rewards performance.  There may actually be some erosion in those ranks.

Make no mistake:  The risk for Delta is mighty here.  If there labor force becomes all union all the time, costs will go up considerably and for the world’s largest airline, that could reverse current profits pretty fast.  Those costs won’t go up just because of renegotiated labor contracts raising salaries either.  I’m certain the unions will introduce work rules that limit the flexibility that Delta current enjoys.  Limits equal higher costs. 

So far, Delta’s management is doing the right thing.  They’re making the argument that employees are treated exceptionally well at Delta and that changing something that has been very good for both parties can almost certainly result in something that is ultimately bad for both parties.  In fact, their arguments seem both articulate and intelligent and don’t appear to insult the intelligence of Delta employees nor do they appear to threaten either. 

Time will tell in this arena.  You can bet that both ContiUnited and American Airlines will be watching closely and even celebrating with glee if the worst happens.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax
No Comments »

The Consumerist has this short story about a group of passengers being asked to stand during a 5 hour flight in Russia on Tatarstan Airlines.  The half dozen passengers boarded the 737 in Turkey and were flown to Ekaterinaburg, Russia. 

Let me caution that while some awfully odd things happen in Russia on aircraft, I’ve also found that a lot of things can get lost in translation when it comes to Russian news stories.  It might not have actually gone the way it was described.

See the story HERE.

Filed under: Trivia by ajax
No Comments »

Here’s an odd one.  Singapore Airlines will be introducing its first flight to South America in 2011.   The new destination will be Sao Paolo in Brazil but the flight will be via Barcelona, Spain.   This seems to imply that there are liberal bi-lateral treaties between Singapore and Spain and/or Brazil that make this a worthwhile venture to attempt.

This marks Singapore Airlines’ 6th continent and when you consider just where and what Singapore is, that’s pretty impressive.  There is no official word on what equipment they’ll use but I feel certain this will *not* be an A380 flight.   Most likely this flight will start off as a 777-200ER.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax
No Comments »

Aviation Week has a great photo of the first ContiUnited aircraft to be painted in the new combined livery of United Airlines (merged).  You can see the Boeing 737-900ER HERE. 

Many find the “United” part of this livery boring.  From a design point of view, I think everything looks much better than when this all started.  Continental’s livery has always been a bit Euro-White-Boring.  But it’s a clean and modern look and I don’t think the name “United” detracts at all.

Nice touch making the first aircraft a Continental aircraft.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax
1 Comment »

Captain Peter Burkill commanded British Airways flight 38 from Beijing which crashed at London Heathrow airport about 3 years ago.  By all informed accounts, his quick action (and that of others on the flight deck) are credited with landing that aircraft with no power and no fatalities.  However, in the immediately following months, Burkill came under pressure at British Airways and though he kept quiet as he was supposed to, he ultimately resigned and searched for another position as captain at another airline.

Unfortunately, because of his high profile association with the crash and, frankly, some rather irresponsible mud throwing in the media (particularly in the UK), he was unable to find another pilot position.  Now there are credible reports that he is being hired back by British Airways.  British Airways, to date, has only said that Burkill is an admired colleague and that he would be welcome back at the airline. 

I always thought it shameful just how much of his dirty laundry and that of other flight crew members was aired in the media over there.  It was prying and irrelevant to his skillful work as a captain that day.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax
1 Comment »

With the Southwest/Airtran merger announcement, there has been a lot of rampant speculation on what US Airways or American Airlines should do in the face of this industry consolidation.  Many see them about to come under pressure from financial markets and shareholders to find a pathway to play in this consolidation game. 

While you could argue that US Airways is at a disadvantage to any of the SuperLegacy airlines now, I don’t think that AA is so much at a disadvantage that they *must* do something.  In fact, their problem is that a merger doesn’t bring much to the table for them since they would be the surviving entity and they already have high costs.  US Airways is doing just fine for now and I think they can afford to be cagey for a while at the least.

The truth is, I think jetBlue will be under more pressure than any other airline.  Their growth is largely stalled right now and then continue to re-trench in existing markets.  They’re busy defending NYC, Boston and, to a lesser extent, the Northeast.   While I admire how jetBlue got its foothold by operating out of JFK airport, I also think that they’ve begun to forget just how much the Atlantic seaboard chews up airlines. 

Yes, they’ve got their nifty trans-continental routes to the west coast and they appear to do pretty good with those on some level.  What jetBlue doesn’t have is a clearly defined pathway forward.  What’s their stategy?  The status quo?  More and more trans-continental routes that don’t offer all that great aircraft utility?  More flights from the Northeast to Florida?  More flights from Florida to Caribbean leisure destinations?  None of that sounds very attractive.

Lest you think I’m speculating, read this story quoting CEO Dave Barger.   He states they’ll continue to focus on their “growth plan” for Boston and the Caribbean.  I’ll point out that Southwest Airlines is already a national airline with a hole in their network.  That changes with the addition of Airtran and they become *much* more competitive with jetBlue upon completion of the merger.  Yes, I think SWA will stumble some during integration but I do not think that will inhibit their ultimate success. 

Contrary to popular belief, there is some low hanging fruit out there for the right airline.  jetBlue has the right service product, labor costs and, frankly, network to go take advantage of that.  But there is no vision for that kind of growth.

I suspect one thing that is inhibiting such growth is aircraft financing.  It’s a tight credit market out there and good terms on aircraft aren’t nearly as easy to acquire as they once were.  However, there are airlines out there with plenty of the right equipment and who could possibly be bought for the right price. 

I think it’s jetBlue that finds itself under pressure for an acquisition and/or merger.  It can’t continue to grow in its existing markets.  There isn’t any room to grow without a bruising and expensive battle.  I think it is going to take new leadership at jetBlue.  Dave Barger does a great job of keeping operations going and maintaining the status quo but he has done a poor job of setting a vision for growth into new markets.  There is plenty of opportunity out there and many airlines are seeing it and executing a strategy for it.  That is going to put a lot of pressure on jetBlue in the next year or two to find a way to articulate what their next plan is.

Filed under: Airline News, Airline Service by ajax
No Comments »